Premier League 2016-17 preview, predictions: No. 17, Watford
With the 2016-17 Premier League season kicking off this weekend, FC Yahoo is rolling out previews for all 20 teams. We’ll be working our way up from the bottom of our predicted table, all the way to the champions.
Last season: The Hornets got off to a flying start in their first season back in the Premier League since 2006-07. They were in seventh place at Christmas, and in eighth as late as the last week of February. However, they took just nine points from their last 12 games, and finished 13th.
What’s changed: It was a successful return to the top flight, but troubling late-season performances led the club and manager Quique Sanchez Flores to part ways. In his place, Watford hired former Napoli and Inter Milan boss Walter Mazzarri.
With Mazzarri appointed in May, Watford has been busy. It broke its transfer record to lure 20-year-old Nigerian forward Isaac Success from Granada, and fortified its defense with Belgian center back Christian Kabasele, Ivorian wing back Brice Dja Djedje and Colombian fullback Juan Camilo Zuniga. But a host of loan deals have ended, Juan Manuel Jurado and Almen Abdi have been sold, and a squad that’s seen tremendous turnover in recent years will look a lot different than it did last season.
FC YAHOO TAKE
Joey Gulino: Everyone’s cowering in fear over the brutal start (away to Southampton and West Ham, home to Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United). Another way to look at it is the Hornets get some of their toughest fixtures out of the way early. One of Mazzarri’s managerial calling cards is defensive organization, and with Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney up top, there are more than enough goals to keep Watford comfortably above the relegation zone. Don’t worry about the slide to finish last season, this isn’t that Watford team. It’s better.
Alex Baker: Last season Watford achieved promotion and instantly became most pundits’ favorites to go right back down. It didn’t, and much of the credit for the Hornet’s survival and relative success must go to the departed manager, Flores. While Mazzarri is undeniably experienced, he is a Premier League debutant with more experience managing clubs expected to challenge for the title than those looking to avoid relegation.
Bookmakers say: Point total over/under: 39.5 | Title odds: 1000/1 | Relegation odds: 2/1
FC YAHOO PREDICTIONS
Shahan Ahmed: 18 | Ryan Bailey: 13 | Alex Baker: 18 | Henry Bushnell: 16 | Joey Gulino: 14 | Joe Lago: 18 | Leander Schaerlaeckens: 13 | Average: 15.7 (17th)
More Previews
Arsenal | Bournemouth | Burnley | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Hull City | Leicester City | Liverpool | Manchester City | Manchester United | Middlesbrough | Southampton | Stoke City | Sunderland | Swansea City | Tottenham | Watford | West Brom | West Ham
